Carla Mae's Blog

It is harvest time in this part of the world , and the Liturgical season seems to reflect this reality. The texts are pointing out “fruit” or the results in us of the wonders of the Paschal Mystery. The Spirit is working to produce results in our lives. During this month we are presented with Therese, with Martin, with our angels…with the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and the final Sunday of October wraps the month up with a central truth: God is God…and we are not. This realization is the most important fruit of all. The “little ones,” Therese, Martin, the angels, and the maid of Nazareth get it right. They are so great because God has done such marvelous things for them. They know it, they live it, and they love it. Therese said that she would just stand there, and God would see how little she was. Then he would reach down and pick her up, and give her whatever she asked. Martin, the mulatto, cleaned latrines, and the Dominicans finally invited him to become a Dominican brot...

September is the time in the Church Year when we are reminded of the power of the Cross and the clear decisions we need to make to live our baptismal commitments. The structure of the cross is worth some pondering. First there is a vertical beam. This connects heaven and earth. But it also separates: land from sea, light from darkness, possession from divestiture, power-over from compassion, going away from coming home, order from chaos. Then there is the horizontal beam. It reaches out to gather in, like some continuous hug. And finally there is the Body. Someone is hung between the two beams, helpless, wounded, bleeding, with a heart open “like a window without shutters,” says Catherine of Siena, so that we can climb in and find refuge anytime. The One hanging on the Cross holds the two beams together. No one seeks after pain, but suffering is different from pain. Suffering can be profound when there is no physical pain. Suffering can be love’s bonding no matter what...

It’s a good question. What reasons do we have to hope? Why should we be a community of hope? Francis asks this question, and so should we. The answer might surprise us. If we look at our little selves, frail, the future full of mist and even darkness, we search in vain. So we are not the answer. The answer rests in an assurance that comes from our faith. Faith is the substance of what we hope for. The answer comes from beyond ourselves. We have an assurance that we are held in love, and this enables us to “whistle in the dark.” The reason for our hope is this hidden God. There is this kind of ache in our hearts. We long for something and we don’t know why. Yet the heartache is there. We long for something that we can’t even name. Maybe it’s that we as a community become something new, something we have been growing toward all the while. Just as a child dreams of “growing up” yet has no clear idea what she shall be, so we too long to be what God wants for us. But if asked wha...

We have turned our faces to the future. Our June gathering has set the course, and it will not do for us to try to live in the past. But I am going to suggest a quick glance. It is not by chance, I don’t think, that Sister Mary Hortense named her book “Rooted in Hope.” No, I think she identifies something about our community. Yes, our past shows we are women of faith and women of great courageous charity. But most of all, we have been women of hope. I think it is a distinctive quality in our Dominican communal charism. “Providence has guided us in the past, and will continue to guide us in the future.” (Mother Benedicta) Pope Francis reflected on hope during his audiences back in late 2016 and early 2017. I’m going to listen in to what he had to say, and reflect on how this might shed a bit of light on our future. I will share what I learn with you these next months. I begin by reminding us all of the Word from last month: “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; give thank...

After the celebration of the big feasts…Pentecost, Trinity, Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart…the liturgy introduced us to fact of “being sent out.” The texts were about missioning, about getting on the road. So what does that mean for us “stay at home Christians” who merely take a trip to Walgreens and back? Being missioned is not about milage. It is about presence. We’re missioned to our families, to our jobs, to our neighbors. We are to be Good News for them. That means we are going to bring a message, intentional or not. We are a word…just being present wherever we go. So we may not consider ourselves a missionary, but we are on mission. The people around us are waiting for a good word. First and foremost, we are a word…like it or not, so maybe we can check out how we ourselves are being “worded.” The first word we bring is ourselves. As worded women and men, we are either good news or bad news. We are either in touch with the Word who has taken up residence deep wi...

As we enter more deeply into this post-Easter time, a scripture has caught my attention and it occurred to me that it was spot on as a way to live out our charism/mission statement and focus as a community. It was so challenging that I will post it here and then comment only of the first imperative it offers.   It is found in the first piece of scripture written, the first letter to the Thessalonians: “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; give thanks in every situation, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”   1 Thess. 5: 17-18. Paul, who has had an unforgettable encounter with the risen Jesus, is not kidding. But what are we to do with this scripture? I suggest we keep “tasting” it   - like a piece of hard candy, until we get to the raspberry in the middle. That first imperative, “Rejoice always…” makes me want to say, “But this would mean I can’t be moody…I can’t worry…I can’t fear the future…and I do!” Paul, are you telling me th...